Gearhouse and Sky Sports take the chequered flag at TVBAwards

F1 OBPod flyaway solution recognised for achievement in systems integration

Broadcast services specialist Gearhouse Broadcast was honoured for its technical innovation at last night’s TVBAwards. In a ceremony held in central London, Gearhouse was presented with the achievement in systems integration award for its design, construction and integration of its OBPod solution. The flyaway production unit is currently being used by Sky Sports for its coverage of the 2015 Formula One World Championship.

Having provided a portable flyaway solution to Sky Sports for a number of years, Gearhouse presented a new option to the broadcaster which would allow it to reduce the size and weight of the facilities needed at each race while still producing the highest quality broadcast.

OBPod is made up of five interconnecting pods, three of which were designed with expandable sides – a note taken from the pages of large OB truck design. The innovative solution was designed and equipment was selected with size and weight in mind. Now fitting on the standard air freight AMP rectangular container footprint during transit, OBPod allows Sky Sports to save substantially on the cost of shipping across a Formula One season.

Kevin Fitzgerald, head of system and product sales and Paul Sykes, systems engineer from Gearhouse were at the ceremony to collect the award.

“This award is a great recognition of the innovation we bring to our systems integration projects,” said Fitzgerald. “Given the busy calendar and distances broadcast facilities have to be shipped between circuits in the Formula 1 season, costs can really mount up. With this innovation we’ve enabled Sky Sports to make substantial savings while still delivering the highest quality broadcast.”

The TVBAwards, run by industry publication TVB Europe celebrates the success stories in the production, management and delivery of media content.